Cross country team and individual favorites after the Nuttycombe Invitational

The biggest weekend of the 2025 collegiate cross country regular season has some results in the books, primarily from the Nuttycombe Invitational and the Pre-National Invitational, the latter moving up a day because of inclement weather. The weekend of cross country gave a glimpse of the national championship picture.

First, let's recap the Nuttycombe Invitational. Here are the winners.

• Men’s team: New Mexico
• Men’s individual: Habtom Samuel, New Mexico
• Women’s team: NC State
• Women’s individual: Grace Hartman, NC State

Shake & Bake!

NC State plugs in Grace Hartman & Angelina Napoleon at #NuttyInvite to complete their roster and wow! 84 point win for the Wolfpack!

⏱️ 19:30.1 for Hartman
⏱️ 19:34.6 for Napoleon pic.twitter.com/Mk59oNzBTh

— RunnerSpace (@runnerspace) October 17, 2025

Click or tap here for complete results from the Nuttycombe Invitational

However, the Nuttycombe wasn’t the only Invitational this week. We also saw the Pre-National Invitational run in Missouri, allowing teams to run the eventual national championship course. Here are the results from that one:

• Men’s team: Georgia
• Men’s individual: Kelvin Cheruiyot, Florida
• Women’s team: BYU
• Women’s individual: Jane Hedengren, BYU

COLLEGIATE DEBUT. SHE DOMINATES.

Jane Hedengren takes the win in her collegiate opener over a talented field in Missouri.

This is just the beginning 🔽🔽pic.twitter.com/1N1Mw2LrQM

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) October 17, 2025

Click or tap here for complete results from the Pre-National Invitational

What it all means for the national title picture

Men’s Team title contenders

With most of the elite men’s teams running in Wisconsin today, it was the best glimpse of a national championship preview. New Mexico has to be the top favorite after finishing with three top-10 runners as a 1-6-9-13-22 finish led to 51 points and a 99-point win. 

While No. 1 Iowa State ran without its top five runners from last month, New Mexico’s performance still makes them the favorite if everyone is healthy. 

Two non-Nuttycombe participants also showed themselves as top contenders still, No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 4 Virginia. Virginia held off a top-10 Wake Forest team as the Cavaliers ran on their home course, with five runners finishing in the top 11 at Panorama Farms. Meanwhile, team competition wasn’t the strongest for Oklahoma State, but the Cowboys finished with seven runners in the top 10.

A darkhorse team has to be Georgia after this week too. The Bulldogs are unranked, but have won every meet this season, from the Covered Bridge Invitational in August, to the FSU Invite in September and now Pre-Nationals. 

Women’s Team title contenders

It’s shaping up to be a two-team race for the women’s team title after today. BYU won Pre-Nats with 25 points, finishing 1-3-6-7-8, with two more runners finishing 10th and 18th. Freshman Jane Hedengren established herself as an individual title contender in her collegiate debut (more on that later), and a third-place from Riley Chamberlain proved that the Cougars still have a low stick they can count on. It all resulted with a 135-point win over second place.

Then there’s NC State. The Wolfpack won the Nuttycombe over five other top-10 teams and 18 other ranked teams. NC State’s Grace Hartman and Angelina Napoleon debuted and took the top two spots, leading a 1-2-9-11-18 finish. The Wolfpack won by 84 points to reestablish themselves as national championship contenders after dropping off (relatively speaking) with an eight-place finish at national championships last year.

Men’s Individual favorites

The segways me to the men’s individual competition. Wake Forest’s Rocky Hansen finished 26 seconds ahead of second place, affirming his status as one of the top individuals in the country.

However, the top individual men’s runner in the country is undoubtedly New Mexico's Habtom Samuel. He set a Nuttycombe record with his 22:58.0. This comes after his second-place finish last year at national championships. It was a dominant finish in his season debut, pulling away from the group over the final stretches of the race.

Following behind Samuel in the Nuttycombe are others that will challenge for an individual title like Washington State’s pair of top-five finishers Solomon Kipchoge and Evans Kurui. Remember, Kipchoge set the course-record at Gans Creek back in September.

Other contenders include third-place Nuttycombe finisher Bernard Cheruiyot of Tulane, fourth-place finisher Dominic Serem of Colorado. BYU’s Davin Thompson could also be in the running, finishing 10th at the Nuttycombe after leading the field through 4000 meters.

Oklahoma State has a team full of potential contenders like Brian Musau and Denis Kipngetich, but every Cowboy was outpaced by Oral Robert’s Abraham Chelangam. Chelangam won the Weis-Crockett Invitational after finishing third at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival.

New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel is on a mission!

He hits another level to win the #NuttyInvite and lead the Lobos to the team title by 99 points!

⏱️ 22:58.0 pic.twitter.com/y6abFnDoLj

— RunnerSpace (@runnerspace) October 17, 2025

Women’s Individual favorites

NC State’s Grace Hartman and Angelina Napoleon finished 1-2 at the Nuttycombe in their season debuts, but neither should be the individual frontrunner after today.

That honor should go to BYU freshman Jane Hedengren after her impressive collegiate debut. At Pre-Nationals, run on the same Gans Creek Cross Country course that the national championships will be run on, the freshman set a course record in 18:42.3. Hedengren defeated the rest of the field by 25 seconds.

Hedengren is the top favorite from all of the women we’ve seen run this season, but we’re still waiting on Alabama’s Doris Lemngole and New Mexico’s Pamela Kosgei to debut this year. Those were the top two finishers from last year’s national championships.